Breaking News – McCain will debate tonight

digster

meistereder wrote:

Good points.

I think this will be one of the most watched debates in history. No matter how you slice it, it will have an impact.

I'm considering going to a bar and watching so I can either drink in victory to celebrate the debate or in defeat so I can forget about it. Either way, this election has been making me even more of an alcoholic than I was (which is saying something).

jimed14

digster wrote:

I'm considering going to a bar and watching so I can either drink in victory to celebrate the debate or in defeat so I can forget about it. Either way, this election has been making me even more of an alcoholic than I was (which is saying something).

I think we need a PJ tour immediately following the election ... all in favor???

Gonzo1977

jimed14 wrote:

I think we need a PJ tour immediately following the election ... all in favor???

i

slightofjeff

digster wrote:

I wonder if and how this will come up in the debate. I'm sure the moderator will ask about it, and McCain will try to spin it as "while Obama was talking, I was doing in Washington," but the fact remains that there is no deal and that he is there doing the debate. He backed down from his hard line. I don't really see how he is going to be able to explain that.

McCain has also not done much preparing for the debate so far, according to his campaign aides. This could mean a few things. One of the reasons could be, as sleightofjeff has said, is that he's very adept at debate (which I don't think is true, but nonetheless). It could also be a severe underestimation of his own skills and of Obama's lack thereof. We'll see if that costs him.

Of course, if McCain does well and Obama does poorly, then this mess with suspending the campaign will all probably be forgotten in the morning. Maybe, at the very least this will give Obama a bit of a cushion that he didn't have.

This is a fair post.

Let me clarify my role in it though: I don't believe McCain is some master debater. I just believe, of all the topics that could be debated, he has a much greater natural command of the material when it comes to foreign policy.

I would think he'd need less prep for this one than one on domestic issues.

And no amount of prep is going to suddenly transform the somewhat wooden McCain into some silver-tongued wordsmith. So I don't think the recent jaunt to D.C. really hurts him in that regard.

digster

slightofjeff wrote:

And no amount of prep is going to suddenly transform the somewhat wooden McCain into some silver-tongued wordsmith. So I don't think the recent jaunt to D.C. really hurts him in that regard.

The thing about this is, is he underestimating Obama's skills as a debater? I don't think Obama is a great debater by any stretch of the imagination, but nevertheless he held his ground against Hillary Clinton, one of the best debaters in the Senate and someone with a firm grip on the facts, again and again without embarassing himself. I think Obama will pass the Commander-in-Chief test pretty easily, because regardless of what people think of his policies, he appears extremely presidential when speaking with the American people. But there are no polls that say the American people expect this to be a blowout in Obama's favor; McCain's the man on foreign policy. He's not just going to skate through this.

And as I said, the moderators are already stating that a large amount of this debate will probably focus on the economy. I think off-the-cuff Obama will probably be better at this than McCain.

I'm very tense about this debate, probably cause I'm more invested in this one than earlier elections. But if Obama can pass the test of people believing he can be Chief Executive, this will be a winning night for him. And one thing I can say about Obama is that despite the many screwups he's made in this campaign I've never seen him cave due to pressure.

slightofjeff

digster wrote:

The thing about this is, is he underestimating Obama's skills as a debater? I don't think Obama is a great debater by any stretch of the imagination, but nevertheless he held his ground against Hillary Clinton, one of the best debaters in the Senate and someone with a firm grip on the facts, again and again without embarassing himself. I think Obama will pass the Commander-in-Chief test pretty easily, because regardless of what people think of his policies, he appears extremely presidential when speaking with the American people. But there are no polls that say the American people expect this to be a blowout in Obama's favor; McCain's the man on foreign policy. He's not just going to skate through this.

I actually agree that Obama probably has the edge, based mostly on expectations. He simply has to appear a credible commander-in-chief. No more, no less.

McCain is the supposed foreign policy expert ... so if he DOESN'T hit it out of the park, he loses, basically. A ground-rule double isn't good enough.

CitizenRick

ledvedderman wrote:

Anyone who ever thought that McCain wouldn't show up tonight is crrrraaaaaazzzzzyyyy

Never had a doubt. This guy and his campaign is all about smoke and mirrors.